IV. Experimental researches in electricity.—Third series

1833 ◽  
Vol 123 ◽  
pp. 23-54 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
The Other ◽  
Chemical Action ◽  
Chemical Decomposition ◽  
General Impression ◽  
Electricity And Magnetism ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Humphry Davy ◽  
Experimental Researches ◽  
Different Sources

265. The progress of the electrical researches which I have had the honour to present to the Royal Society, brought me to a point at which it was essential for the further prosecution of my inquiries that no doubt should remain of the identity or distinction of electricities excited by different means. It is perfectly true that Cavendish, Wollaston, Colladon and others, have in turn removed some of the greatest objections to the acknowledgement of the identity of common, animal and voltaic electricity, and I believe that philosophers generally consider these electricities as really the same. But on the other hand it is also true, that the accuracy of Wollaston’s experiments has been denied, and that one of them, which really is no proof of chemical decomposition by common electricity (309. 327.), has been that selected by several experimenters as the test of chemical action (336. 346.). It is a fact, too, that many philosophers are still drawing distinctions between the electricities from different sources; or at least doubting whether their identity is proved. Sir Humphry Davy, for instance, in his paper on the Torpedo, thought it probable that animal electricity would be found of a peculiar kind; and referring to that, in association with common electricity, voltaic electricity and magnetism, has said, “Distinctions might be established in pursuing the various modifications or properties of electricity in these different forms, &c.” Indeed I need only refer to the last volume of the Philosophical Transactions to show that the question is by no means considered as settled. 266. Notwithstanding, therefore, the general impression of the identity of electricities, it is evident that the proofs have not been sufficiently clear and distinct to obtain approbation from all those who were competent to consider the subject; and the question seemed to me very much in the condition of that which Sir H. Davy solved so beautifully,—namely, whether voltaic electricity in all cases merely eliminated, or did not in some actually produce, the acid and alkali found after its action upon water. The same necessity that urged him to decide the doubtful point, which interfered with the extension of his views, and destroyed the strictness of his reasoning, has obliged me to ascertain the identity or difference of common and voltaic electricity. I have satisfied myself that they are identical, and I hope the proofs I have to offer, and the results flowing from them, will be found worthy the attention of the Royal Society.

Report on experimental researches in electricity:- Third series

1837 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 191-194
Keyword(s):  
Corrosive Sublimate ◽  
Chemical Decomposition ◽  
General Law ◽  
Principal Points ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Reasonable Ground ◽  
Experimental Researches ◽  
Magnetic Needle ◽  
Different Sources ◽  
Decomposition Of Water

In order to prove the identity of electricities derived from different sources, the author in this communication, after viewing the phenomena exhibited by electricity, shows, that although some effects are most readily derived from a particular source, yet none are peculiar to such source. The principal points in which ordinary and voltaic electricity have been considered to differ, are the inefficiency of ordinary electricity to produce chemical decomposition, or to affect a magnetic needle like voltaic electricity. The experiments of Wollaston were made early in the application of electricity to chemical decomposition, before the general law of the transfer of the elements to the poles of the battery had been indicated; yet his 4th experiment, in which electricity from the machine was passed through a solution of sulphate of copper, and his 5th, where it was passed through a solution of corrosive sublimate, have the true characteristic of decomposition by voltaic electricity: and it is surprising that those who advocate a distinction between these electricities should have ventured to overlook these experiments, when they bring forward the experiment of the decomposition of water, as deficient in this characteristic of the transfer of the elements. This circumstance, however, induced Mr. Faraday not merely to repeat Wollaston’s 4th experiment, which he did with complete success, but to adopt different arrangements and by these, with ordinary electricity, he obtained, in various instances, chemical decompositions having all the characters of decomposition by voltaic electricity. Whatever doubt, therefore, may have been thrown upon this part of the subject, he has entirely removed it. The author has also removed the doubts which it appears had been entertained respecting the conclusion of M.Colladon, in consequence of the failure of his experiments in the hands of others. By a particular arrangement connected with the glass inclosing the galvanometer, and by retarding the passage of the electricity through its wires, by means similar to those by which gunpowder is roost successfully exploded by an electric discharge, which he also employed to effect chemical decomposition, Mr. Faraday succeeded in causing the needle to deviate, both by the discharge of a battery, and by electricity passing directly from the conductor of the machine. In justice to M. Colladon, we must remark, that the account which he gives of his experiments affords no reasonable ground for doubting the accuracy of his conclusions: the details are clear, and the numerous results unequivocal. We may also notice, that, in the same memoir, M. Colladon gives an account of some very interesting experiments, made with a similar arrangement, on the magnetical effects of atmospherical electricity, by which its power of causing deviations of the needle is satisfactorily established.

scholarly journals XIV. On the absorption of gases by solids

1881 ◽  
Vol 32 (212-215) ◽  
pp. 407-408
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Hydraulic Press ◽  
Careful Examination ◽  
Solid Matter ◽  
Chemical Action ◽  
High Pressure And Temperature ◽  
Solid Iron ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Very High

During the progress of the investigations which I have from time to time had the honour of bringing under the notice of the Royal Society, I have again and again noticed the apparent disappearance of gases inclosed in vessels of various materials when the disappearance could not be accounted for upon the assumption of ordinary leakage. After a careful examination of the subject I found that the solids absorbed or dissolved the gases, giving rise to a striking example of the fixation of a gas in a solid without chemical action. In carrying out that most troublesome investigation, the crystalline separation of carbon from its compounds, the tubes used for experiment have been in nine cases out of ten found to be empty on opening them, and in most cases a careful testing by hydraulic press showed no leakage. The gases seemed to go through the solid iron, although it was 2 inches thick. A series of experiments with various linings were tried. The tube was electro-plated with copper, silver, and gold, but with no greater success. Siliceous linings were tried fusible enamels and glass—but still the' tubes refused to hold the contents. Out of thirty-four experiments made since my last results were published, only four contained any liquid or condensed gaseous matter after the furnacing. I became convinced that the solid matter at the very high pressure and temperature used must be pervious to gases.

XXIII. On the water-barometer erected in the hall of the Royal Society

1832 ◽  
Vol 122 ◽  
pp. 539-574 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Physical Science ◽  
The Other ◽  
Metallic Tube ◽  
French Academy ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Common ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Made In

I have for some time entertained an opinion, in common with some others who have turned their attention tot he subject, that a good series of observations with a Water-Barometer, accurately constructed, might throw some light upon several important points of physical science: amongst others, upon the tides of the atmosphere; the horary oscillations of the counterpoising column; the ascending and descending rate of its greater oscillations; and the tension of vapour at different atmospheric temperatures. I have sought in vain in various scientific works, and in the Transactions of Philosophical Societies, for the record of any such observations, or for a description of an instrument calculated to afford the required information with anything approaching to precision. In the first volume of the History of the French Academy of Sciences, a cursory reference is made, in the following words, to some experiments of M. Mariotte upon the subject, of which no particulars appear to have been preserved. “Le même M. Mariotte fit aussi à l’observatoire des experiences sur le baromètre ordinaire à mercure comparé au baromètre à eau. Dans l’un le mercure s’eléva à 28 polices, et dans Fautre l’eau fut a 31 pieds Cequi donne le rapport du mercure à l’eau de 13½ à 1.” Histoire de I'Acadérmie, tom. i. p. 234. It also appears that Otto Guricke constructed a philosophical toy for the amusement of himself and friends, upon the principle of the water-barometer; but the column of water probably in this, as in all the other instances which I have met with, was raised by the imperfect rarefaction of the air in the tube above it, or by filling with water a metallic tube, of sufficient length, cemented to a glass one at its upper extremity, and fitted with a stop-cock at each end; so that when full the upper one might be closed and the lower opened, when the water would fall till it afforded an equipoise to the pressure of the atmo­sphere. The imperfections of such an instrument, it is quite clear, would render it totally unfit for the delicate investigations required in the present state of science; as, to render the observations of any value, it is absolutely necessary that the water should be thoroughly purged of air, by boiling, and its insinuation or reabsorption effectually guarded against. I was convinced that the only chance of securing these two necessary ends, was to form the whole length of tube of one piece of glass, and to boil the water in it, as is done with mercury in the common barometer. The practical difficulties which opposed themselves to such a construction long appeared to me insurmount­able; but I at length contrived a plan for the purpose, which, having been honoured with the approval of the late Meteorological Committee of this Society, was ordered to be carried into execution by the President and Council.

Vergilius Astronomiae Ignarus?

Mnemosyne ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 621-646
Author(s):  
Frederik A. Bakker
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Combine Information ◽  
Different Sources

AbstractBoth in antiquity and today Virgil is sometimes accused of ignorance in astronomy. This paper argues that, on the contrary, Virgil’s treatment of astronomical topics in Georgics 1.231-258 shows that he was quite familiar with the subject, and was able (when he wished to) to combine information from different sources (Aratus, Eratosthenes and other, unidentified ones) into a sensible and harmonious whole. On the other hand, the omission of essential steps between the various parts of his account, and the deliberate confusion of science and myth show us that his ultimate aim was not to inform the ignorant but to amuse and surprise readers who were just as familiar with astronomy as Virgil himself.

scholarly journals IV. Notice as to the supposed identity of the large mass meteoric iron now in the British Museum, with the celebrated Otumpa iron described by Rubin de Celis in the Philosophical Transactions for 1786. Communicated in a letter from Woodbine Parish, Esq. F. R. S. to Charles König, Esq. Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society

1834 ◽  
Vol 124 ◽  
pp. 53-54
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Large Mass ◽  
The Real ◽  
Gran Chaco ◽  
Native Iron ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Humphry Davy

As the identity of the large mass of meteoric iron in the British Museum with the celebrated Otumpa iron, described by Rubin de Celis in the Philosophical Transactions for 1786, has been the subject of frequent inquiry, the following short historical notice, relating to that mass, is communicated by Woodbine Parish, Esq. F. R. S., by whom, when His Majesty’s Chargé d’Affaires at Buenos Ayres, it was sent to England. -C. K. “Dear Sir, “Agreeably to my promise, I have taken some trouble to ascertain the precise history of the large mass of native iron which I sent home to Sir Humphry Davy from Buenos Ayres, and which is deposited in the British Museum. There is no doubt of its coming from the same place as that described by Rubin de Celis, though whether it be a fragment of that particular mass upon which he made his report, or a smaller one in its immediate vicinity, I am not able to say, for there certainly is an impression at Buenos Ayres that there is not only one, but that several masses of this iron are to be found in that part of the Gran Chaco referred to by Rubin de Celis. I was under the impression that it had been sent for in order to be forwarded to Madrid; but in this I was led into error; and I have only lately ascertained through Mr. Moreno, the Buenos Ayrean Minister, that the real history of its being at Buenos Ayres is as follows.

scholarly journals VIII. The Bakerian Lecture.—Experimental of laws of magneto-electric induction in different masses of the same metal, and of Intensity in different metals

1833 ◽  
Vol 123 ◽  
pp. 95-142 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Great Difficulty ◽  
The Other ◽  
Present Purpose ◽  
Electric Induction ◽  
Other Substances ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
Experimental Researches

Mr. Faraday's highly interesting papers, entitled “Experimental Researches in Electricity,” having been referred to me, to report on, by the President and Council of this Society, I necessarily entered minutely into all the experiments and conclusions of the author, and the more so that I had had the advantage of witnessing many of the most important of these experiments. It is foreign to my present purpose to descant upon the value of Mr. Faraday’s discovery, or the merits of his communication ; the President and Council have marked their opinion of these by the award of the Copley Medal: but I may be permitted to state, that no one can concur more cordially than I do in the propriety of that award. Agreeing as I did generally with the author, both in the views which he took of the subject, and in the conclusions which he drew from his experiments, there was one, however, which I felt great difficulty in adopting, viz. “That when metals of different kinds are equally subject, in every circumstance, to magneto-electric induction, they exhibit exactly equal powers with respect to the currents which either are formed, or tend to form, in them :" and that “the same is probably the case in all other substances.” Although the experiments might appear to indicate that this was possibly the case, I did not consider them to be conclusive. The most conclusive experiment, that of two spirals, one of copper and the other of iron, transmitting opposite currents, was quite consistent with the absolute equality of the currents excited in copper and iron; but, at the same time, the apparent equality of the currents might be due to their inequality being counteracted by a corresponding inequality in the facility of transmission.

scholarly journals VII. Experimental researches in electricity.-Twenty-third Series

1850 ◽  
Vol 140 ◽  
pp. 171-188 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Mode Of Action ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
The Other ◽  
Experimental Proof ◽  
Philosophical Paper ◽  
Iron Nickel ◽  
The One ◽  
Experimental Researches ◽  
The Magnetic Field

Four years ago I suggested that all the phenomena presented by diamagnetic bodies, when subjected to the forces in the magnetic field, might be accounted for by assuming that they then possessed a polarity the same in kind as, but the reverse in direction of, that acquired by iron, nickel and ordinary magnetic bodies under the same circumstances (2429. 2430.). This view was received so favourably by Plücker, Reich and others, and above all by W. Weber, that I had great hopes it would be confirmed; and though certain experiments of my own (2497.) did not increase that hope, still my desire and expectation were in that direction. Whether bismuth, copper, phosphorus, &c., when in the magnetic field, are polar or not, is however an exceedingly important question; and very essential and great differences, in the mode of action of these bodies under the one view or the other, must be conceived to exist. I found that in every endeavour to proceed by induction of experiment from that which is known in this department of science to the unknown, so much uncertainty, hesitation and discomfort arose from the unsettled state of my mind on this point, that I determined, if possible, to arrive at some experimental proof either one way or the other. This was the more needful, because of the conclusion in the affirmative to which Weber had come in his very philosophical paper; and so important do I think it for the progress of science, that, in those imperfectly developed regions of knowledge, which form its boundaries, our conclusions and deductions should not go far beyond, or at all events not aside from the results of experiment (except as suppositions), that I do not hesitate to lay my present labours, though they arrive at a negative result, before the Royal Society.

Brighter than how many suns? Sir Isaac Newton’s burning mirror

1989 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-51 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Radiant Heat ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sir Isaac Newton ◽  
Isaac Newton ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Hearsay Evidence

There are a number of references in the scientific literature to a burning mirror designed by Sir Isaac Newton (1). Together, they record that it was made from seven separate concave glasses, each about a foot in diameter, that Newton demonstrated its effects at several meetings of the Royal Society and that he presented it to the Society. Nonetheless, neither the earliest published list of instruments possessed by the Royal Society nor the most recent one mentions the burning mirror; the latest compiler does not even include it amongst those items, once owned, now lost. No reference to the instrument apparently survives in the Society’s main records. It is not listed by the author of the recent compendium on Newton’s life and work (2). There is, however, some contemporary information still extant (Appendix 1). Notes of the principles of its design and some of its effects are to be found in the Society’s Journal Book for 1704; some of the dimensions and the arrangement of the mirrors are given in a Lexicon published by John Harris which he donated to the Royal Society at the same meeting, 12 July 1704, at which Newton gave the Society the speculum. The last reference in the Journal Book is dated 15 November that year, when Mr Halley, the then secretary to the Society, was desired to draw up an account of the speculum and its effects (3). No such account appears to have been presented to the Royal Society. There is no reference in Newton’s published papers and letters of his chasing Halley to complete the task, nor is there any mention of it in the general references to Halley. The latter was, of course, quite accustomed to performing odd jobs for Newton; that same year he was to help the Opticks through the press. The only other contemporary reference to the burning mirror, though only hearsay evidence since Flamsteed was not present at the meeting, is in a letter the latter wrote to James Pound; this confirms that there were seven mirrors and that the aperture of each was near a foot in diameter (4). Because John Harris gave his Dictionary to the Royal Society in Newton’s presence, it is reasonable to assume that his description is accurate. As Newton would hardly have left an inaccurate one unchallenged, then, belatedly, the account desired of Mr Halley can be presented. In some respects, the delay is advantageous, since the subject of radiant heat and its effects, although already by Newton’s period an ancient one, is today rather better understood. On the other hand, some data has to be inferred, that could have been measured, and some assumptions made about Newton’s procedures and understanding that could have been checked (5).

scholarly journals XXXIII. A supplement to two papers published in the Transactions of the Royal Society, "On the science connected with human mortality;" the one published in 1820, and the other in 1825

1862 ◽  
Vol 152 ◽  
pp. 511-559 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
The Other ◽  
General Interest ◽  
Proper Solution ◽  
John Irving ◽  
Knowing That ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
Life Annuities ◽  
Three Lives

In offering to the Royal Society the ensuing Supplement to my two former papers on the Law of Mortality, with subsequent remarks on invalidism, I am anxious to acknowledge that I have derived great advantage from the encouragement and persuasion of my esteemed brother-in-law, Sir Moses Montefiore, Bart., given me to endeavour to com­pile and publish some of my later observations on the subject; knowing that, though I felt flattered by the attention originally shown by scientific gentlemen to these papers, they appeared to me capable of advantageous illustrations. Therefore I may venture to hope that if this Supplement merit the attention of those interested in this branch of science, I may consider that he has added a mite further to entitle him to the good wishes of those who applaud him for his constant endeavours to promote the general interest of mankind—endeavours which he has shown to extend through Europe and Asia in the cause of humanity, and to be exercised at home in various ways, among which I notice his attention to the practice of Life, Fire, and Marine Assurance; he being the President of the Alliance British and Foreign Life and Fire Assurance Com­pany; of which I was the founding Actuary, and in which Institution, though retired from it, I feel greatly interested; it having been established about the year 1824 by the late N. M. de Rothschild, Esq., the late John Irving, Esq., the late Samuel Gurney, Esq., and Francis Baring, Esq., and himself conjointly with other gentlemen, and he being also President of the Alliance Marine Assurance Society, founded at the same time by them with him. Art. 1. In the year 1820 the Royal Society did me the honour to publish in their Transactions a paper of mine on the Analysis and Notation applicable to the valuation of Life Contingencies, in which I introduced a new and general notation, which appealed to me far more extensively useful, and more explanatory of its object, than any other notation I had met with; and in that paper I think I introduced a new manner of deal­ing with the subject, by offering an analysis, with examples of the extensive use of it, applicable to some of the most intricate questions which had up to that period met with anything like a proper solution; and showed, by selections from the treatise of Life Annuities of my late learned and much-respected friend, Francis Baily, Esq., a mode of solution of all the problems in chapter 8 of that work, depending on a particular order of survivorship; problems previously considered many years before, and presented by my late friend William Morgan, Esq., of the Equitable Society, to the Royal Society, and published in their valuable Transactions; and which had been since considered, in a learned work on Life Annuities, by my late respected friend Joshua Milne, Esq., with some ingenious notation with respect to those contingencies. But still, the solutions given to many of the problems, though there were but three lives con­cerned, were of such an intricate practical form, as to be in my opinion perfectly useless; especially on considering that it was necessary to obtain, by Tables of single and joint lives, by necessary interpolations, the required data; as the differences to be used for the interpolations, in consequence of the great irregularity of the numbers of those Tables, are so irregular as to throw great doubt on the necessary accuracy of the results. And I think the examples I gave of my method could leave no doubt as to the comparative simplicity which resulted from it, and consequently comparative utility of my analysis; an analysis which applies where there are more than three lives concerned, and, in fact, where there are any number of lives to be considered. And I may refer the reader to my solutions in that tract, to enable him to make the com­parison.

scholarly journals III. Experimental researches in electricity. —eighteenth series

1843 ◽  
Vol 133 ◽  
pp. 17-32 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Atmospheric Electricity ◽  
Glass Tube ◽  
Direct Relation ◽  
High Pressure Steam ◽  
Change Of State ◽  
Pressure Steam ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Experimental Researches

2075. Two years ago an experiment was described by Mr. Armstrong and others, in which the issue of a stream of high pressure steam into the air produced abundance of electricity. The source of the electricity was not ascertained, but was supposed to be the evaporation or change of state of the water, and to have a direct relation to atmospheric electricity. I have at various times since May of last year been working upon the subject, and though I perceive Mr. Armstrong has, in recent communi­cations, anticipated by publication some of the facts which I also have obtained, the Royal Society may still perhaps think a compressed account of my results and con­clusions, which include many other important points, worthy its attention. 2076. The apparatus I· have used was not competent to furnish me with much steam or a high pressure, but I found it sufficient for my purpose, which was the in­vestigation of the effect and its cause, and not necessarily an increase of the electric development. Mr. Armstrong, as is shown by a recent paper, has well effected the latter. The boiler I used, belonging to the London Institution, would hold about ten gallons of water, and allow the evaporation of five gallons. A pipe 4½ feet long was attached to it, at the end of which was a large stop-cock and a metal globe, of the capacity of thirty-two cubic inches, which I will call the steam-globe , and to this globe, by its mouth-piece, could be attached various forms of apparatus, serving as vents for the issuing steam. Thus a cock could be connected with the steam-globe, and this cock be used as the experimental steam-passage; or a wooden tube could be screwed in; or a small metal or glass tube put through a good cork, and the cork screwed in; and in these cases the steam way of the globe and tube leading to the boiler was so large, that they might be considered as part of the boiler, and these terminal passages as the obstacles which, restraining the issue of steam, produced any important degree of friction.

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